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A. RICHTER.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

No. 560,283. Patented May 19, 1896,

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A. RICHTER.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

No. 560,283. Patented May 19, 1896.

ANDREW B.GllHAM.,PKOTO-UTHD.WASHINFI'ON. DC

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADOLF RICHTER, OF RUDOLSTADT, GERMANY.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,283, dated May 19,1896. Application filed July 8, 1895. Serial No. 555,338. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLF RICHTER, a subjcct of the Kinof Bavaria,residing at Rudolstadt, in the Principality of Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt,Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatical or Mechanicallyl layed Instruments, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in so-callec automatical ormechanicallyplayed instruments.

M y invention consists, first, in the arrangement of two toothedmusic-sheet-eontrolling wheels, one behind the other, in the same line,for the purpose of insuring a proper rectilinear motion of long andendless music-sheets, the latter being driven by the said wheels fromthe center of the line of notes.

My invention consists, secondly, of a bar pressing, the music-sheetagainst the pushpoint levers or tripping apparatus, the said bar havingtwo parallel rods loosely revolving in their bearings, one of the rodsbefore and the other behind the pushpoints of the pushpoint levers, andan arm provided with one or more slots for the engagement of themusicsheet-controlling wheel, for the purpose of giving the music-sheeta smooth and sure guidance.

My invention consists, thirdly, in the construction of a fly-wheel forthe driving mechanism of the music-sheet, the said fly-wheel having itstwo overlapping wings pivoted parallel to the driving-shaft andconnected one with the other by apiece, so that the two wings are forcedto unfold and to put together simultaneously, whereby a quiet motion anda quick regulation is insured.

My invention consists, fourthly, in an arrangement, hereinafterdescribed and claimed, for quietly winding up the barrel of the drivingmechanism, by which arrangement the pawl is held out of gear with theratchet-wheel during the winding up.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation, partly insection, of my improved device for moving and guiding the music'sheet ina rectilinear manner. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is adetail plan view of a driving-wheel having two rings of teeth. .Figs. l,5, and 6 are plan views of music-sheets with several rows of drivingofthe same.

holes. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the music-sheet presser-bar. Fig. Sis asection of the same on the line :1: cc of Fig. 7. Fig. 9 shows themiddle part of the presser-bar arranged for drivingwheels with two ringsof teeth. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the fly-wheel, and Figs. ll and12 are a plan view and a front elevation Figs. 13 and II are a sideelevation and a plan View of a modified construction of the fly-wheel.Fig. 15 shows a side elevation of the windin g up mechanism, the pawlbeing out of gear with the ratchet-wheel, and Fig. l6 is a likeelevation of the same, showing the pawl catching in the ratchet-wheel.Fig. 17 is a front elevation of a chest containing the mechanicalmusical instrument on consoles. Fig. 18 is a perspective view of theinstrument on consoles. Figs. 19 and 20 are front and side elevations ofan oval casing inclosing the mechanical musical instrument.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

lIeretofore wide long music-sheets could only be moved over the trippingapparatus with any amount of certainty by arranging the two rows ofdriving-holes for the two toothed wheels mounted on one shaft either atthe outermost edges of the music-sheet outside of the line of notes orto a certain extent within the line of notes; but with this arrangementthe driving-holes had to be made of rather great width in order toinsure a certain engagement of the teeth of the two wheels therein incase of alteration of the paper or cardboard music-sheets, such asshrinking and expanding resulting from the weather. The greater thewidth of a musicsheet of this kind the greater must be the space or playin the driving-holes. \Yith an arrangement of this kind there is noguarantee for proper rectilinear movement. On the contrary, the sheet inits forward movement will be shifted to and fro by the entrance of thetripping points or pins in the notes or music-holes, the amount of suchshifting being proportionate to the amount of play in the drivingholes.It has been attempted to obviate this drawback by providing special sideguiding devices; but in this case also the contraction or shrinking andexpansion of the musicsheets have been found incon- In the case of sideguiding devices venient.

the maximum width of the music-sheet resulting from the action of theweather must be taken into consideration, because if this is not doneside friction is produced, which will interfere with the proper forwardmovement. Now the present invention completely obviates all thesedrawbacks. The alterations such as the shrinking and expansion of themusic-sheets resulting from the weather-can no longer injuriously affectthe rectilinear motion of the music-sheet. According to this inventionthe driving-holes a, Fig. 2, are arranged in the middle of themusic-sheet p, and two sheet-controlling toothed wheels Z) and c, Fig.1, are provided at a suitable distance apart, one behind the other, ofwhich the front wheel-that is to say, the wheel 1) which is driven bymeans of the toothed wheels I) and b from the motive mechanism serves toeffect the forward motion of the music-sheet, while the rear wheelthatis to say, the wheel cis actuated by the musicsheet and servesexclusively for guiding the music-sheet in a straight line. lVith thisarran gement the driving-holes of the musicsheet need not be wider thanis necessary for the proper engagement of the teeth of the two wheels,and since both wheels serve for guiding the music sheet positively in astraight line it cannot be shifted laterally. Furthermore, thisapparatus has also the ad- "antage that it requires considerably lesspower for operation, because all friction and irregularity of motionresulting from the expansion of the music-sheet is excluded. The twowheels I) and 0 rest in bearings on the bedplate (1, the lattersupporting the steel tongues c and the tripping or striking wheels f.

In order to enable the hereinbefore described apparatus to be used withvery wide music-sheets, the two toothed wheels must be each providedwith two or more separated rings of teeth a Fig. 3. This is necessary inorder to make the connecting portion between the driving-holes of themusic-sheet of sufficient strength by leaving also a longitudinalconnecting-piece a, Fig. 2, between the said holes.

The driving-holes a in the music-sheet may also be of circular form, asin Fig. 4, and in stead of two rows of driving-holes there may be threeor more rows, as represented in Figs. 5 and 6. In all these cases thedriving-holes are in the middle of the line of notes.

Figs. 7 to 9 show the presser-bar for pressing the music-sheet towardthe push-point levers or striking-wheels. The presser-bar g is at ghinged to the casing of the instrument and held down on the other end bya flat bolt g turning at 9 This bar g is provided with twoloosely-revolving and parallel rods 71, which press on the music-sheetbefore and behind the push-point levers engaging the music-sheet. Therevolving rods h allow the music-sheet to travel smoothly and with lessfriction over the push-point levers. The bar g is further providedwith aslotted arm 1', in

, piece q.

the slot of which engage the teeth of the drivingwheel, while the arm tpresses down the music-sheet so that the teeth of the drivin g-wheelengage in a sure and uniform man ner into the driving-holes of themusic-sheet. The free end t" of the arm "i is rounded, and also the end7i of the arm 7t, the latter being opposite to the arm 2'. The roundedends t and To facilitate the travel of endless musicsheets, so far asthe latter move around the arms 1' and 71), as indicated in dotted linein Fig. 8. If the music-sheet is very wide, the arm 1'- of thepresser-bar g is made with two or more slots, as shown in Fig. 9, forthe engagement of the teeth of a wheel with two or more rings of teeth.(Represented in Fig. 3.) The rods h are in this case divided into twoparts, the one ends of these parts having their bearings in the sides ofthe arm 7; and the other ends in the ends of the bar g.

Figs. 10, 11, and 12 represent the fly-wheel. 011 the vertical aXle m ofthe same, the under end of which is threaded as usual, is fixed ahorizontal cross-piece 01, supporting two vertical bolts '11, serving asaxles for the win 0. These latter are connected by the piece q, the endsof which are loosely mounted on short pins on the upper edge of thewings 0. Above the cross-piece n is arranged on the axle m a coiledspring on, the lower end of which is connected with the cross-piece n,the upper end being pivoted to the connecting- By this arrangement thecoiled spring acts on the piece 1, so that the wings 0 are put togetherin a uniform manner. Vhen the fly-wheel is rotating and one of the wingsobegins to unfold, the connecting-piece q forces simultaneously theother wing also to unfold.

In Figs. 13 and 14, instead of one coiled spring, as in Fig. 12, twocoiled springs m m are arranged, each of which is connected on its oneend with the cross-piece n, and on its other end with one of the wings0, as shown in Fig. 14:.

Figs. 15 and 10 show the mechanism for quietly winding up the barrel.The catching of the pawl into the ratchet-wheel causes, as is known, adisagreeably rattling noise when the barrel is wound up. I11 order toprevent this, an arm r is pivoted on the arbor 0 of the barrel, which isconnected with the mainspring, said arm being under tension of astrut-spring w, and having at its free end a notch 7*, which, during thewinding up of the arbor, engages the pin 5 of the pawl s,which is liftedby the arm and thus holds the pawl out of engagement with theratchet-wheel t. \Vhen the arbor of the barrel starts to turn in theopposite direction by impulse of the mainspring, the pin 3 of the pawlis released from the socket a" of the finger a" and the pawl is againforced into engagement with the ratchet-wheel by a spring a.

Fig. 17 shows the musical instrument arranged on consoles 1) within achest orthe like, whereby is attained that endless music-sheets IIOmaybe put very easily on the instrument and then hang freely down overthe whole instrument, as shown in Fig. 18. The'consoles 2; may bepreferably fixed on the back side of the chest. In placing theinstrument 011 consoles the same can ever remain on its place withoutbeing removed when a new musicsheet shall be put on the instrument.

If the mechanical musical instrument shall be arranged within a largerchest or the like, the instrument is inclosed in a drum of wood or sheetmetal and of round or oval form, as shown in Figs. 19 and 20. The drumis supported by a console and fixed to the back side of the chest.

I am aware that heretofore governors have been devised whereinoverlapping win gs,movable independent of each other and pivotedparallel to the shaft which carries them, were provided, and such I donot broadly claim. I am not aware that a governor has ever before beendevised wherein overlapping wings, pivoted parallel to the shaft whichcarries them, were provided with connecting means for maintaining aparallelism between the wings whether in the expanded or contractedposition.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent-- 1. In a mechanical musical instrument, thecombination of two toothed music-sheet-controlling wheels arranged onebehind the other in the same line, a music-sheet having regularly-spacedengaging apertures in the middle of the line of notes adapted to beengaged by the controlling-wheels, substantially as described and forthe purposes specified.

2. In a mechanical musical instrument a music-sheet presser-bar havingtwo parallel and loosely-revolving rods and in the middle an armprovided with one or more slots for the engagement of the teeth of themusicsheet-oontrolling wheel, substantially as described.

3. In a fly-wheel for mechanical musical instruments, the combination oftwo overlapping wings pivoted parallel to the drivingshaft and whichoverlap to their greatest extent when the fly is in position of rest, aconnecting-piece pivoted to each of said wings and carried thereby,whereby a movement of one wing will cause a corresponding move ment ofthe other wing, and a parallelism will always be maintained between thefans substantially as described.

4. In a mechanical musical instrument, the combination of awindingarbor, a mainspring connected therewith, a springpressed armpivoted on said arbor and tending to turn therewith, the free end ofsaid arm having a notch therein, a spring-pressed pawl having a pinthereon adapted to be engaged by said arm and be received within thenotch therein, and a ratchet-wheel adapted to be engaged by said pawl,whereby, when the arm starts to move in one direction, the pin upon thepawl is engaged by the arm and forced into the socket thereof to holdthe pawl out of engagement with the ratchet and when said arm starts toturn in an opposite direction, the pawl will be released from engagementwith said arm and be forced, by means of the spring thereof, intoengagement with the ratchet, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ADOLF RICHTER.

Witnesses:

WM. HAUPT,

H. DAY.

